Occidental Caribe: Awful experience

The hotel itself, the room, the view and giving us complimentary champagne for our anniversary was lovely, unfortunately that was the only nice things about the experience. We arrived late Monday evening and went for something to eat on the buffet. Later that evening I was ill, it could have been from the full day of travel but I have traveled many times in the past and did not have this happen. It was apparent from the first morning going down to the buffet for breakfast that the service was [... read more] not the best. Almost every morning this would happen, we would get a table, we could never find one already set with cups, napkins and silverware. Then one of us would wait at the table to get a cup of coffee. Most of the wait staff spoke very little English so communication was quite a struggle. If you were Spanish speaking you received excellent service, sometimes more than one server at the table. I am not too sure if the staff were hesitant to approach due to the language barrier. On the Wednesday we were at the pool swim up bar, I am not too sure if this was due to having too much sun or having a reaction from the liquor they call Mamawanna but I became very ill and had to be assisted back to my room by wheelchair. Again, I would say that my husband and I have traveled many times to Cuba, Mexico and cruises and have not had this happen. For two days there was no cold water in the room, therefore you could not flush the toilet or take a shower. Then we had no hot water for one day. We usually love to sit on the beach and enjoy the ocean. Unfortunately it was far too windy to be able to enjoy that, the pools are kept very clean and we did enjoy the quieter pool that had wonderful service for lunch at the restaurant. It was helpful that we were able to have a la carte restaurants almost every night as we found the buffet quality of food not very good. Things did improve slightly when we had a great experience on an excursion. We were stopped in the lobby daily to try to get us to buy into their vacation club and found this very annoying. We went to try to purchase souvenirs at a local market within walking distance and found the people very aggressive, we did not return and purchased things at the airport instead. On the day we were leaving I called for assistance with our luggage and they did not understand at the front desk. My husband was returning the towels so I attempted to bring the suitcases down, I was struggling to bring them to the front desk and was not offered any assistance. I asked the front desk where we could store our bags, the girl simply pointed to a door. I went to the door, it was locked, when going to get assistance from one of the bellmen I tripped and fell, again no assistance from anyone. We had our beach towels stolen from poolside not once but twice. I spoke to the manager regarding this and he did assist me to get new towels. In the advertisement for the package it said there would be a robe, slippers and a bottle of rum in the room, this was not there upon arrival, when trying to speak to staff or the Sunwing rep again there were things lost in translation and understanding. It is customary that the cleaning staff leave a decorative towel design, ensure that there are fresh towels and restock the bottles of water as needed unfortunately this did not happen as well. This was out first experience in Domincan Republic and I do not think we would return. For the amount of money spent I really felt like I was an inconvenience to the staff and they really did not like the tourists at all. A very different experience from when I have traveled in other countries where they are so very polite, friendly and approachable. This was a vacation that I wanted to leave to go home instead of feeling sad for leaving. The flight was excellent and staff on the flight very friendly.

Barcelo Bavaro Beach: Dream Vacation in the Dominican!

The hotel, staff, service and setting were phenomenal--we'd go back in a hot minute! Avoid the lobster (smaller and mushier than Canadians are accustomed to) but otherwise the food and drinks were amazing and the presentation of it showed pride and attention to detail in all aspects. The ocean-front rooms allowed us to fall asleep to the sound of the surf and the wind in the palm trees--and the rain which only seems to fall (conveniently) at night! The excursions were phenomenal (I plan to re [... read more]tire ON the Dr. Fish boat) and the image of those turquoise waters and white sand beaches are seared into my imagination to hold me over until my next vacation. I would never have picked the Dominican (too touristy I thought) but I'm so glad I went--do it!!

Excellence Punta Cana: Wonderfull Trip

Beautiful Ocean view rooms[with pool views also] with about half of the rooms. Long sandy shoreline especially for a mid size property[around 500 rooms].Doesn't take long times to get anywhere and a nice walk around the resort and beach.Food and service is great at this resort.We had most of our breakfast's at the Lobsters Restaurant [instead of the Buffet] for the excellent service,staff and ocean views[open air].You may be limited to areas you can ocean swim as it was windy there and big waves [... read more] but was a beautiful view. Lots of lounges around the beach area but the pool ones go faster if it is a windy day. Shows activities, are similar to other resorts[Michael Jackson, theme song dancers, circus show] Disco opens at 11 and is very small,dark and loud so we never went in over 3 checks. Activities are tucked away at the far side of the resort[tennis, basketball, pool, ping-pong, mini golf] but not many there. For young couples looking for a quitter private trip this is a great choice. If your young couples or singes looking for more activities , nightlife etc. I would check out some larger resorts. Shopping at this resort is very expensive[jewelry, clothes] except for the smaller items.

Sunscape Coco Punta Cana: Good Resort

Over all the grounds were beautiful and the workers were all very kind and enjoyable to be around. The meals were average. The beach was a little dirty- had to walk 20 mins to nice beach. wifi didn’t work AT ALL.

Caribe Deluxe Princess: wonderful !

My husband and I stayed at this resort from FEB13-23/18. The staff were welcoming with a warm smile! Our room was on the third floor... it was spacious and clean albeit the furniture was dated.The balcony was also large and we had a view of the pools and of the beautiful blue ocean.The food was good with a varied menu of selections.At the beach there was always palapas available so you did not have to go early to reserve a spot. Wifi was only available in the lobby but it was free.Our room was  [... read more]always cleaned by housekeeping in the morning with fresh towels stocked daily. The mini fridge was also replenished on a daily basis. Thank you to the Caribe Club Princess for the hospitality!!!

Grand Bavaro Princess: it is great resort

the rooms was clean and big the food was cold not to good but the service was very very nice the resort was very nice to walk the garden the pool the beach was clean but was windy the service in the bar area was friendly and good service

Bahia Principe Escape Aquamarine: remains top choice

I've done a pantload of these, what I refer to as "cheap and cheerful sun vacations" all over the carribe and Bahia is my top choice. The grounds are beautiful, the food is pretty darn good, and the beach is spectacular. The rooms are, fresh, large and clean. Not everyone might appreciate the size but I personally enjoy it-it is vast. My only complaint is the same this time as last--some male crew really take liberties. I don't think it's appropriate to be catcalled by staff. Is it cultural? If  [... read more]a bartender in Insert Large North American City fully assesed me with a leering eye I'd laugh in his face and take it up with management. Otherwise great bang for your buck!!

Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Nice resort

this resort is very beautiful. Entertainment was really good. Restaurants were good. The staff needs to be friendlier to their guests. This is the biggest negativity they really need to work on being more courteous. There were many times that I didn't feel like I was welcome. Don't get me wrong there were some staff that were great but more that weren't. Yes I would recommend this resort.

Bahia Principe Explore Punta Cana: Service was bad

I would never go back to this resort. Rooms dared. House keeping bad, customer service overall need to be better. Had to call every day regarding house keeping. Workers at the customer service desk not helping with issues.

Excellence El Carmen: An Excellence experience

The hotel is a series of (about) 17 units, spread out over spacious grounds and located on a beautiful beach. The grounds were immaculate and an enjoyable feature was a pond that had photogenic Flamingos, Swans and Ducks. The beachfront covered miles of sandy beach that allowed walkout in turquoise water (quite wavy, but minimal undertow). As delightful feature is that (unlike Riu properties) washrooms were plentiful. There were 12 a-la-carte restaurants (too many to sample in a week; no reserva [... read more]tions required except for the 'performance' table at the Asian restaurant) and 16 bars (probably couldn't visit too many more), all of which provided high quality food and drink. The rooms were extremely large and well laid-out, and featured a huge walk-in closet and shower / sink / toilet areas. Wi-Fi was strong over most of the property. Only one pool was heated, although all had appended 'hot-tubs'. We were a little disappointed that a number of the lounges were in need of repair, but there were sufficient functional lounges available for all guests. In the restaurants for the first 3 days, every table was wobbly, and the wait-staff mixed up some part of our orders on more than 50% of the occasions. Generally, we felt that at least initially, the staff w3as not up to the standards we expected from the Excellence brand. probably not coincidentally, as we mentioned this at a Managers cocktail party on our 3rd night, in the latter portion of the week, we noticed a lot more care and cordiality from the staff. The weather was OK at best (not the fault of the hotel!!!), with more rain and cloud than expected, and very windy. Several days we were unwilling to lounge beachfront as the 'sand-blasting' effect was to painful. We love the 4 other times we experienced an Excellence vacation, and will return again, but to other sites, as we are likely not to go to this spot again, at least in mid-February

Catalonia Royal Bavaro: Good Value

This is an older resort (circa 2005) and it shows but it is well maintained. Everything regarding the resort was great except the nightly entertainment. The overall rating of 4+ is appropriate. Getting through the Punta Cana airport is pure hell. We won't go back because of it.

Sunscape Coco Punta Cana: Great resort

The hotel was a very good size and everything was in good proximity. The buffet was also a very good size. Sometimes service was on the slow side but overall good. The pool was a good size and the bar in the pool was a lot of fun!

TRS Turquesa: Grand Palladium - Such Poor Service, You Won't Even Realize You're At A 5 Star Resort!!

If we said that our honeymoon at the Grand Palladium Turquesa Punta Cana was anything short of terrible would be kind. We bought an all inclusive package that cost over $6,100Cdn for a 5 star, adults only resort. It was our honeymoon so we opted to spend more for what we presumed to be a better resort. I had been to Punta Cana a handful of times, and the Dominican Republic approximately a dozen times. I have stayed at 3 star, 4 star, and 5 star resorts. Sadly, the service we received at thi [... read more]s 5 star resort on what is supposed to be your most memorable vacation was worse than any other resort I have stayed at in the Dominican, or otherwise. The nice thing about the resort is that we had our own concierge, but that's where the good service ended. First, most people we interacted with did not speak English. My husband only speaks English, I spent the majority of our trip being his own private interpreter. Second, despite speaking Spanish fluently (it is my first language) I would ask questions in Spanish and not get answers to my question. For example, "que es este ingrediente?" Respuesta "Es un ingrediente". Or in English, when asking "what is this ingredient?" Response "It's an ingredient". This was actually a conversation I had with one of the servers. Thirdly, I have dietary restrictions that only allow me to have all natural drinks. I would ask for a "banana con leche" or Banana milkshake and was told I was unable to get what I was requesting. Having been to a dozen all inclusives before I had never encountered being told they could not mix milk, with banana for me. At no point in the first week was it explained to us that only one bar in the entire resort could meet my requests which is upsetting because I paid for an all inclusive experience and I could not for the first week get the drink I was ordering. Fourth, I found out the only way I could have a drink my way was to go to the spa bar, which we did not know was included in our package. So if I have a dietary need, obviously the only solution was to tell me to go elsewhere rather than finding a better solution that would allow me to drink at the bar closest to me. Fifth, we were not informed by Air Transat or the staff at Grand Palladium that we had an orientation to attend the first morning of our visit that could have clarified some of our miscommunications about the resort. Sixth, scents (perfumes, or strong odours) affect my health. Unfortunately, the lobby had such a strong smell to it, that I could not go in. Same is true for the disco. The difficulty with the lobby however, was that apparently that was the connection to the ocean. I constantly had to walk through the lobby just to get to the pool and ocean, until we found other ways around it. Thereby flaring up health issues for myself. Seven, upon our arrival they tried to up-sell us, disguising it as an upgrade for this being our honeymoon. It was not apparent from the conversation at first that they meant we would have to pay for the upgrade. It originally sounded like they were upgrading us because it was our honeymoon. Eight, there was a distinctive treatment between us and others at the same resort who looked older. This was especially true at bars and restaurants. Most of the time we were ignored. Waiters often overlooked us. Did not give us water, coffee, and when I asked in Spanish politely was given attitude. Nine, we were often forgotten about. This was clear when we went to the steakhouse. A few of us were seated at the same time. Everyone else seated at the same time as us were given menus. I had to ask our waiter for menus. He realized we were the only ones without one, so he brought us one. Everyone else got their own menus, but we were made to share, which is quite difficult when you are seated across your partner. Thankfully the menu was in Spanish on one side, and English the other, so we were able to manage. That same night, since it had been quite a while since speaking to our server we got up to go get appetizers from the buffet a few feet from our table. Our invisibility to staff was clearly solidified when we turned around to see our table being picked up and moved to make a table for a bigger group. When we approached the staff they laughed it off and said it was their mistake. This would have been more so an excuse had we not been the table each staff member had to pass by to get to their section of tables. Ten, our orders were either suggestions or just plain forgotten. There was more than one occasion where we did not receive what we ordered, but rather what we can only anticipate they believed we should have. It is unclear why they wrote our orders down at all, if everything we told them was made wrong, or not given to us at all. Eleven, it got to the point where the sit down, 5 star restaurant associated with our hotel would just plain ignore us. So much so that we started timing how long it would take the waiter to give us water (which often did not occur even when we asked for it) and take our order. We sat down, took out a timer after a while of waiting and noticing the waiters assisting the tables all around us but not us. Interestingly, it took at least 10 minutes before a waiter came to take our order. When we pointed this out politely, the waiter was extremely rude to us. So much so we started going to the buffet at the 4 star hotel next door because at least there we could serve ourselves. Twelve, often our water and/or coffee we ordered at the beginning of the meal (when we managed to get a waiter's attention) would not arrive until the end of our meal. Thirteen, no one could answer questions about ingredients in the food. We went to the French restaurant one night, and it took asking 3 people before we got an answer. Thankfully, that night the manager took it upon himself to ensure there was something I could eat. I was sick more than half the trip and apparently trying to get anything I could eat was a feat. All I wanted was rice and bread and mint tea but this was apparently unavailable for some reason. The manager at this restaurant was the first and almost only person the entire trip that tried to work with me to have something I could eat. He even summoned the chef to speak with us. Fourteen, we tried to do room service a few times because of how ill I was. The food was really unappetizing and the quality was terrible. Fifteen, there was a butler door in our room for room service. Now being on our honeymoon (highlighted by a sash on our door) and having a swim up room meant that the idea is that with the butler door when you order room service they are supposed to leave it in the little area, and light up the red light to let us know it arrived. Instead room service would only bang on the door incessantly, and if you didn't answer they would call us, even though the light worked perfectly fine. They proceeded to wake me up one of the days I hadn't slept all night and had finally just fallen asleep despite being in severe pain. We can only assume that this was their way of trying to get a tip. Sixteen, room service would mess up our entire order. For example, there was one day where I hadn't slept all night because I was in excruciating pain. My husband ordered room service for breakfast. He asked for toasted bread and mint tea with hot water. What was given to us was rolls of bread. Not toasted, not heated, no mint tea. For this however they knocked down our door. For lunch we told the concierge our problems with room service so they ordered for us. We asked for myself who could barely walk, hot water (we gave up asking for mint tea), bread (we gave up on asking it be toasted), rice, and the concierge suggested chicken broth. What came with our order was no bread, no rice, no hot water, and some sort of tomato soup with veggies and such in it. They pounded our door for a tip on that delivery too. Seventeen, from the beginning of our stay our toilet acted up. It continued to do so for the entirety of our trip. We told them the first day, it seemed they had fixed it but alas that was not the case. Over the course of the time we spent in our room our sink wouldn't drain, our jacuzzi tub was loose, our shower head would fall down constantly, and our tub started having a bad odour. Eighteen, we told people the entire trip it was our honeymoon. The only person who did anything was a waiter at the Indian restaurant whose first response was, "why didn't you tell someone, we could have done something". To which I replied with "we did". So he undertook to make it a more special evening, designing a very pretty table with flowers and champagne. Nineteen, despite being sick and telling people at each restaurant or buffet almost no accommodations were made to ensure that I could eat the food. Instead most of the time my needs were ignored and instead my orders were suggestion. It was amazing how difficult it was to get plain rice to help me get better faster. Twenty, despite asking several different servers different questions about the menu or food items. Most of them were rude or had no idea what was on their menus. This made it difficult to eat for the two weeks were at this hotel. Twenty one, the excursion we bought off the Hotels Extra guy selling in the hotel lobby was very misleading. Twenty two, the first day we were left a gift tag at our door stating that they had a gift for us in the lobby. We went to the lobby, despite the smell, to try and pick it up. Apparently it was a sales pitch because we spoke to an agent that set up an appointment for us the next day. So the next day we went to see him, he had told us that we should not speak to anyone else, but we could not find him. After waiting for him for quite a while, someone offered to take his place. We were in our swimsuits because it was the middle of the day and we were at a beach resort. The person taking his place told me that she was going to take us on a tour of the resort, but that I had to go put on clothes before she could do so. We then found out that the gift that we had shown up to claim was only provided after completing the entire resort tour. Twenty three, about four days before our departure I was finally able better enough to make a complaint to the resort staff. Up until then we couldn't complain because of my condition and the fact that my husband does not speak Spanish. We asked to speak to a manager. The manager, Ronny Avila, Gerente Habitaciones Royal "Room Division Manager" came to speak to us, and after we gave him our list of complaints he said he had to talk to his supervisor to see what he could do for us to compensate us for all our troubles. He promised to have an answer for us by evening, or morning at the latest. The next afternoon my husband went to investigate (as I couldn't be in the lobby) and there still was not a reply. The next evening when we returned from the horrible excursion we had purchased through the hotel the concierge told us what we were being offered. Either we could have a couple's massage or a candlelight dinner on the beach to compensate. We were not interested in either option but suggested the dinner would be the better of the two options. Twenty four, when we chose between the two options presented to us they tried to get us sign a contract that did not make any sense. My husband and I are both lawyers, we understood what the contract was trying to accomplish, it was trying to get us to take this compensation to waive any liability the resort had for its less than 5 star service while engaging us in a gag clause. We are ethical people and despite knowing that it was an unenforceable contract, we did not wish to sign anything for a dinner that we didn't want in the first place. When we told this to the concierge, he told us that that would mean we would get no compensation. To which we replied that we knew this, because a dinner on the beach really is not much in the way of compensation when the entire two week experience had been so terrible. Twenty five, the next day we found a trip advisor agent, Charlie, and told him our difficulties. Later that day we were contacted by the Manager's superior Almudena Mosteiro Mun/oz, Asistente Director Adjunto Habitaciones "Assistant Director". When we told her everything we had been put through at her hotel she was shocked. She had also not been contacted by Ronny about how to compensate us, and indicated to us that what was offered to us is normal any time there is a complaint, that Ronny did not need her permission to take such a step, and that she was glad we did not take the compensation. As she put it, it was not compensation enough for everything we had been put through. All in all, we couldn't eat almost anything at the resort without getting sick. Anything we ordered was a suggestion and rarely did we get what we asked for. We couldn't get vital information to help us get better. It appears we were lied to by the Manager, Ronny. Air Transat almost forgot us at the hotel. Nothing about this experience screams 5 star. Had we paid half the price and gone to another lower star resort we probably would have gotten better service. All in all, between Air Transat, the Grand Palladium, and the Hotel Extras excursion no part of the honeymoon was a positive memory. We spent so much money to go here for a pleasant experience and we couldn't wait to come back home so I could get bread, rice, and people who at least didn't scoff or give me attitude each time we ordered. All that to say that there are a few employees that were extremely nice, reasonable and helped make our most memorable trip at least tolerable. We cannot under good conscience ever recommend this hotel to anyone, and in fact did not sign the gag clause for just that reason. Thank you for ruining the trip we've looked forward to our entire lives!!!

Bahia Principe Escape Ambar: A Great Huge Resort!!

This resort is no shortage of food, drinks, pools, restaurants, shops....you may need more than seven days to see it all. The grounds were very well maintained, the staff were helpful and polite, always smiling and greeting you. We had one small problem with our room and that was the shower that sprayed water all over. I had contacted the manager to show him the problem and within that day it was replaced and worked wonderful. If you don't like big resorts, this resort is not for you. T [... read more]his resort is a 'Complex' of smaller resorts within it that makes it feel like a complex. This resort has a shuttle carts that run up and down the main artery with people to go to the beach and different locations within the resort. We like to walk and there was no shortage of places that we discovered along our walks. However, even thou this was a huge resort we always felt safe no matter where we were. They had staff on the beach making sure that the vendors were not hounding the sun bathers, making sure that the resorts patrons were at their designated areas (Ambar Blue & Ambar Green adults only) no families with kids were allowed in this area. All in all its' a lovely resort and if we go again we will certainly stay for more than seven days. :O)

Sunscape Bavaro Beach: Middle of the Road

For the most part, the hotel and its premises were reasonably kept and up to expectation; the best part was the excellent quality of the matresses in the rooms so you were guaranteed a good night's rest. The room cleaning service we found to be quite inadequate.

Royalton CHIC Punta Cana: Amazing time!!

I had a great time. I have traveled to this resort 5 times now and it only gets better. The process of booking with martine at trip central was amazing. I have booked all of my trips with her and tripcentral and I never have had any issues. Thanks again for a great trip!

VIK Hotel Arena Blanca: Lovely resort

Cudos for the following: - friendly, polite helpful staff at front desk, restaurants, bars and activities, most spoke reasonable English & many are proficient; terrific beach, fine pool & well-tended gardens; carefully prepared & presented wide selection of food options at Mirador buffet; other restaurants inconsistent foods & service; loved the poolside lunch/snack bar; updated public bathrooms clean & well supplied; activity programs well-suited to guests; the few souvenir vendors on site & [... read more] at beach were not pushy. Our ocean-view room in Bldg 3 was adequate with nice closet but missing a bureau/dresser for other clothing; chairs on balcony were old broken rattan & very uncomfortable though others had plastic chairs; housekeeping of room was spotty- new sheets/bed made & fresh towels/supplies daily but table tops, sink & floor done once in 10 days - needs improvement. Bars have only a very poor draft lite beer - needs improvement. Casino & disco are small unappealing rooms but not facilities we look for in a resort. This resort suits families and middle/older ages.

Excellence El Carmen: Excellente vacation

Like the name of the resort our vacation was excellent. We have been to many five star adult only resorts, and the excellence el carmen is by far the best yet. We were in a swim up room and thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the room. The food at every restaurant was amazing as was the service. Every employee we met was happy and eager to please. The gym is state of the art. All modern equipment, plenty of water, towels and cold towels with eucalyptus scent, amazing! A shout out to the ente [... read more]rtainment staff, coca cola, thanks for sharing your positive vibe. Shakey shakey, thanks for your smile and last but not least Bruno Mars, (my dance partner), thanks for making me look so good on the dance floor. We recommend this resort to anyone and we will definitely be back.

Melia Caribe Beach Resort: An awesome resort

The resort was a big resort well maintained resort. Very friendly people there and always a pleasure to talk with. Rooms were well maintained and cleaned regularly The food was excellent and well organized. We would love to go back there

Occidental Caribe: Great vacation

We enjoyed our stay at this resort. It is in a great location with a very nice beach and pools. The restaurant choices were adequate and the service was great. We had an ocean front room with a great view! However the room itself was average and could use some upgrading in the bathroom. Overall though the resort was clean and the staff friendly and accommodating.